Backing up data using the command line

You can use the incremental or selective commands to perform backups. The following table shows examples of using commands to perform different tasks.

About this task

Table 1. Command line backup examples
Task	Command	Considerations
Incremental backups
Perform an incremental backup of your client domain.	dsmc incremental	See Incremental for more information about the incremental command. See Full and partial incremental backup for detailed information about incremental backups.
Back up the `g:` and `h:` drives in addition to the `c:`, `d:`, and `e:` drives defined in your client domain.	`dsmc incremental -domain="g: h:"`	See Domain for more information about the domain option.
Back up all local volumes defined in your client domain except for the `c:` drive and systemobject domain.	`dsmc incremental -domain="all-local -c: -systemobject"`	You cannot use the (-) operator in front of the domain keyword all-local. See Domain for more information. For Windows clients you can also exclude the systemstate domain from backup processing in this way.
Back up all local volumes defined in your client domain except for the `c:` drive and systemstate domain.	`dsmc incremental -domain="all-local -c: -systemstate"`	You cannot use the (-) operator in front of the domain keyword all-local. See Domain for more information.
Back up only the `g:` and `h:` drives.	`dsmc incremental g: h:`	None
Back up all files in the `c:\Accounting` directory and all its subdirectories.	`dsmc incremental c:\Accounting\* -sub=yes`	See Subdir for more information about the subdir option.
Assuming that you initiated a snapshot of the `C:` drive and mounted the snapshot as the logical volume `\\florence\ c$\snapshots\snapshot.0`, run an incremental backup of all files and directories under the local snapshot and manage them on the IBM Spectrum® Protect server under the file space name `C:`.	`dsmc incremental c: -snapshot= \\florence\c$\snapshots\ snapshot.0`	See Snapshotroot for more information.
Incremental-by-date backup
Perform an incremental-by-date backup of your default client domain.	`dsmc incremental -incrbydate`	Use the incrbydate option with the incremental command to back up new and changed files with a modification date later than the last incremental backup stored at the server. See Incrbydate for more information about the incrbydate option.
Selective backups
Back up all files in the `d:\proj` directory.	`dsmc selective d:\proj\`	Use the selective command to back up specific files, a group of files with similar names, or empty directories and their attributes regardless of whether those files or directories were backed up during your last incremental backup and without affecting the last incremental backup count from the backup server. You can use wildcards to back up multiple files at once. See Selective for more information about the selective command.
Back up the `d:\proj` directory and all its subdirectories.	`dsmc selective d:\proj\ -subdir=yes`	See Subdir for more information about the subdir option.
Back up the `d:\h1.doc` and `d:\test.doc` files.	`dsmc selective d:\h1.doc d:\test.doc`	You can specify as many file specifications as available resources or other operating system limits permit. Separate file specifications with a space. You can also use the filelist option to process a list of files. The backup-archive client opens the file you specify with this option and processes the list of files within according to the specific command. See Filelist for more information.
Back up a list of files in the `c:` drive.	`dsmc selective -filelist=c:\filelist.txt`	Use the filelist option to process a list of files. See Filelist for more information.
Assuming that you initiated a snapshot of the `C:` drive and mounted the snapshot as the logical volume `\\florence\ c$\snapshots\snapshot.0`, run a selective backup of the `c:\dir1\sub1` directory tree from the local snapshot and manage it on the IBM Spectrum Protect server under the file space name `C:`.	`dsmc selective c:\dir1\sub1\* -subdir=yes snapshot=\\florence\c$\snapshots\ snapshot.0`	See Snapshotroot for more information.